[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 34 (Tuesday, February 20, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 12812-12814]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-03355]


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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Food and Nutrition Service


Child Nutrition Programs: Income Eligibility Guidelines

AGENCY: Food and Nutrition Service, USDA.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: This notice announces the Department's annual adjustments to 
the Income Eligibility Guidelines to be used in determining eligibility 
for free and reduced price meals, free milk, and Summer Electronic 
Benefit Transfer benefits for the period from July 1, 2024 through June 
30, 2025. These guidelines are used by schools, institutions, and 
facilities participating in the National School Lunch Program (and 
Commodity School Program), School Breakfast Program, Special Milk 
Program for Children, Child and Adult Care Food Program, and Summer 
Food Service Program. Beginning in 2024, they will also be used by 
States and Indian Tribal Organizations that administer the Summer 
Electronic Benefits Transfer for

[[Page 12813]]

Children Program. The annual adjustments are required by section 9 of 
the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act. The guidelines are 
intended to direct benefits to those children most in need and are 
revised annually to account for changes in the Consumer Price Index.

DATES: Applicable July 1, 2024.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Penny Burke, Program Monitoring and 
Operational Support Division, Child Nutrition Programs, Food and 
Nutrition Service, United States Department of Agriculture, 1320 
Braddock Place, Suite 401, Alexandria, Virginia 22314, 303-844-0357.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This action is not a rule as defined by the 
Regulatory Flexibility Act (5 U.S.C. 601-612) and thus is exempt from 
the provisions of that Act.
    In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. 
3507), no recordkeeping or reporting requirements have been included 
that are subject to approval from the Office of Management and Budget.
    This notice has been determined to be not significant and was not 
reviewed by the Office of Management and Budget in conformance with 
Executive Order 12866. The affected programs are listed in the 
Assistance Listings (https://sam.gov/) under No. 10.553, No. 10.555, 
No. 10.556, No. 10.558, and No. 10.559 and are subject to the 
provisions of Executive Order 12372, which requires intergovernmental 
consultation with State and local officials. (See 2 CFR part 415).

Background

    Pursuant to sections 9(b)(1), 13A(h)(2), and 17(c)(4) of the 
Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1758(b)(1), 42 
U.S.C. 1762(h)(2), and 42 U.S.C. 1766(c)(4)), and sections 3(a)(6) and 
4(e)(1)(A) of the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 (42 U.S.C. 1772(a)(6) and 
1773(e)(1)(A)), the Department annually issues the Income Eligibility 
Guidelines for free and reduced price meals for the National School 
Lunch Program (7 CFR part 210), the Commodity School Program (7 CFR 
part 210), School Breakfast Program (7 CFR part 220), Summer Food 
Service Program (7 CFR part 225), Child and Adult Care Food Program (7 
CFR part 226), free milk in the Special Milk Program for Children (7 
CFR part 215), and program benefits in the Summer EBT Program (7 CFR 
part 292). These eligibility guidelines are based on the Federal income 
poverty guidelines and are stated by household size. The guidelines are 
used to determine eligibility for free and reduced price meals, free 
milk, and Summer EBT benefits in accordance with applicable program 
rules.

Definition of Income

    In accordance with the Department's policy as provided in the Food 
and Nutrition Service publication Eligibility Manual for School Meals, 
``income,'' as the term is used in this notice, means income before any 
deductions such as income taxes, Social Security taxes, insurance 
premiums, charitable contributions, and bonds. It includes the 
following: (1) monetary compensation for services, including wages, 
salary, commissions or fees; (2) net income from nonfarm self-
employment; (3) net income from farm self-employment; (4) Social 
Security; (5) dividends or interest on savings or bonds or income from 
estates or trusts; (6) net rental income; (7) public assistance or 
welfare payments; (8) unemployment compensation; (9) government 
civilian employee or military retirement, or pensions or veterans 
payments; (10) private pensions or annuities; (11) alimony or child 
support payments; (12) regular contributions from persons not living in 
the household; (13) net royalties; and (14) other cash income. Other 
cash income would include cash amounts received or withdrawn from any 
source including savings, investments, trust accounts and other 
resources that would be available to pay the price of a child's meal.
    ``Income'', as the term is used in this notice, does not include 
any income or benefits received under any Federal programs that are 
excluded from consideration as income by any statutory prohibition. 
Furthermore, the value of meals, milk, or EBT benefits to children 
shall not be considered as income to their households for other benefit 
programs in accordance with the prohibitions in section 12(e) of the 
Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act and section 11(b) of the 
Child Nutrition Act of 1966 (42 U.S.C. 1760(e) and 1780(b)).

The Income Eligibility Guidelines

    The following are the Income Eligibility Guidelines to be effective 
from July 1, 2024 through June 30, 2025. The Department's guidelines 
for free meals and milk and reduced price meals were obtained by 
multiplying the year 2024 Federal income poverty guidelines by 1.30 and 
1.85, respectively, and by rounding the result upward to the next whole 
dollar.
    This notice displays only the annual Federal poverty guidelines 
issued by the Department of Health and Human Services because the 
monthly and weekly Federal poverty guidelines are not used to determine 
the Income Eligibility Guidelines. The chart details the free and 
reduced price eligibility criteria for monthly income, income received 
twice monthly (24 payments per year), income received every two weeks 
(26 payments per year) and weekly income.
    Income calculations are made based on the following formulas: 
monthly income is calculated by dividing the annual income by 12; twice 
monthly income is computed by dividing annual income by 24; income 
received every two weeks is calculated by dividing annual income by 26; 
and weekly income is computed by dividing annual income by 52. All 
numbers are rounded upward to the next whole dollar. The numbers 
reflected in this notice for a family of four in the 48 contiguous 
States, the District of Columbia, Guam and the Territories represent an 
increase of 4.0 percent over last year's level for a family of the same 
size.
    Authority: Section 9(b)(1) of the Richard B. Russell National 
School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1758(b)(1)(A)).

                                                              Income Eligibility Guidelines
                                                     [Effective from July 1, 2024 to June 30, 2025]
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                                 Federal                  Reduced price meals--185%                                   Free meals--130%
                                 poverty  --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
        Household size         guidelines
                              ------------   Annual    Monthly   Twice per  Every two    Weekly      Annual    Monthly   Twice per  Every two    Weekly
                                 Annual                            month      weeks                                        month      weeks
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                                            48 Contiguous States, District of Columbia, Guam, and Territories
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1............................      15,060     27,861      2,322      1,161      1,072        536      19,578      1,632        816        753        377
2............................      20,440     37,814      3,152      1,576      1,455        728      26,572      2,215      1,108      1,022        511
3............................      25,820     47,767      3,981      1,991      1,838        919      33,566      2,798      1,399      1,291        646

[[Page 12814]]

 
4............................      31,200     57,720      4,810      2,405      2,220      1,110      40,560      3,380      1,690      1,560        780
5............................      36,580     67,673      5,640      2,820      2,603      1,302      47,554      3,963      1,982      1,829        915
6............................      41,960     77,626      6,469      3,235      2,986      1,493      54,548      4,546      2,273      2,098      1,049
7............................      47,340     87,579      7,299      3,650      3,369      1,685      61,542      5,129      2,565      2,367      1,184
8............................      52,720     97,532      8,128      4,064      3,752      1,876      68,536      5,712      2,856      2,636      1,318
For each add'l family member,       5,380      9,953        830        415        383        192       6,994        583        292        269        135
 add.........................
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                                                                         Alaska
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1............................      18,810      2,900      1,450      1,339        670     24,453       2,038      1,019        941        471
2............................      25,540     47,249      3,938      1,969      1,818        909      33,202      2,767      1,384      1,277        639
3............................      32,270     59,700      4,975      2,488      2,297      1,149      41,951      3,496      1,748      1,614        807
4............................      39,000     72,150      6,013      3,007      2,775      1,388      50,700      4,225      2,113      1,950        975
5............................      45,730     84,601      7,051      3,526      3,254      1,627      59,449      4,955      2,478      2,287      1,144
6............................      52,460     97,051      8,088      4,044      3,733      1,867      68,198      5,684      2,842      2,623      1,312
7............................      59,190    109,502      9,126      4,563      4,212      2,106      76,947      6,413      3,207      2,960      1,480
8............................      65,920    121,952     10,163      5,082      4,691      2,346       3,571      3,296      1,648
For each add'l family member,       6,730     12,451      1,038        519        479        240       8,749        730        365        337        169
 add.........................
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                                                                         Hawaii
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1............................      17,310     32,024      2,669      1,335      1,232        616      22,503      1,876        938        866        433
2............................      23,500     43,475      3,623      1,812      1,673        837      30,550      2,546      1,273      1,175        588
3............................      29,690     54,927      4,578      2,289      2,113      1,057      38,597      3,217      1,609      1,485        743
4............................      35,880     66,378      5,532      2,766      2,553      1,277      46,644      3,887      1,944      1,794        897
5............................      42,070     77,830      6,486      3,243      2,994      1,497      54,691      4,558      2,279      2,104      1,052
6............................      48,260     89,281      7,441      3,721      3,434      1,717      62,738      5,229      2,615      2,413      1,207
7............................      54,450    100,733      8,395      4,198      3,875      1,938      70,785      5,899      2,950      2,723      1,362
8............................      60,640    112,184      9,349      4,675      4,315      2,158      78,832      6,570      3,285      3,032      1,516
For each add'l family member,       6,190     11,452        955        478        441        221       8,047        671        336        310        155
 add.........................
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Cynthia Long,
Administrator, Food and Nutrition Service.
[FR Doc. 2024-03355 Filed 2-16-24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3410-30-P